Golf is a kind of ball game of putting via a club. At present, golf has become a synonym for noble sports. As a sport integrating the joys of nature, physical exercises and games, golf is favored by more and more people.
For a golf game, equipments, such as a golf club and a golf ball, are required. Among these equipments, golf club head forms a part of the golf club. One of the development trends of the golf club head both at home and abroad is ultra-thin golf club head. Usually, it is required that: for a golf club head, the overall thickness of a thin area should be less than or equal to 0.6 mm, furthermore, for some golf club heads, the thickness of a thin area should be less than or equal to 0.5 mm, the tolerance of thickness is ±0.10 mm; and, the thin area of a golf club head is approximately located in a top area of the golf club head. At present, by the casting techniques mastered by the golf club head casting manufacturers both at home and abroad, it can be ensured that the minimum wall thickness of the top thin area of a golf club head is greater than or equal to 0.68 mm. There is a huge gap between the products made by using such processes and the customer demands, and these products are far from sufficient to meet the technical requirements of most customers.
In golf club head manufacturing enterprises, due to the restriction of the casting level, the existing method for producing a golf club head is as follows: the top of a golf club head is thickened for casting to obtain a golf club head, the thickness of the top thin area of which is greater than or equal to 0.68 mm, and the golf club head is then subjected to pickling to be thinned. However, this method can not meet the technical requirements of the massive industrial production of ultra-thin golf club heads, this is because:
1) after pickling, absorption of hydrogen of different degrees will occur on the surface of golf club heads, and it is difficult to ensure that there is no crack on the golf club heads during a putt as the absorption of hydrogen will deteriorate the ductility and impact toughness of material, so most customers will not accept golf club heads made by thickening the golf club head for casting and then thinning it by pickling;
2) as there may be cracks on some golf club heads during the pickling of the golf club heads, some golf club heads will be scrapped during the production; as a result, the yield is low, and the production cost is increased;
3) as the thinning amount to the thickness is not uniform during the pickling of the golf club heads, some golf club heads will be scrapped due to a size beyond an allowed error range, and the production cost is further increased; and
4) due to the pickling process, the treatment of the pickling liquor used during the pickling and thinning process of the golf club heads will pollute the environment; for these reasons, the technique of preparing a golf club head with an ultra-thin crown has become a bottleneck in the field of golf club head at present.
As the top thin area of a golf club head has curved surfaces of different radian and the radius of curved surfaces at different positions is different, the existing grinding-wheel polishing devices can not realize uniform polishing and thinning of the curved surfaces of the golf club heads due to the restriction of shape, this is because:
1) during the polishing of a golf club head, as the force stressed manually on the golf club head is not uniform, the thinning amount to thickness at each position on the top of the golf club head is not uniform; as a result, some golf club heads will be scrapped due to a size beyond the tolerance;
2) as the top area of a golf club head has complicated profile of curved surfaces, it is difficult to ensure that the profile of the curved surfaces will not be damaged during the polishing; furthermore, it is difficult to keep the profile of the curved surfaces of all polished golf club heads consistent during the massive production, this is one of reasons for high scrap rate; and
3) at present, there is no applicable and available industrial device for polishing and thinning a golf club head both at home and abroad, so the automation control can not be achieved.